Melfort Comets begin fundraising for annual provincial Pink game

The following year, they purchased pink uniforms for the team that had visited Assiniboia, the Frontier Raiders, and encouraged them to pay it forward. The Raiders then hosted a game, bought some jerseys for the team that visited them, and a tradition was born.

Ten plus years later, there have been hundreds of thousands of dollars raised and more than 20 teams who have participated in this fundraiser and are proud to sport pink jerseys throughout the season.

The Comets were part of the Pink Game in 2020 when it was hosted by the Carlton Crusaders. This year, Melfort and Meadow Lake hope to keep the tradition alive at the annual fundraiser game and hope the community can help them meet their goal.

For their fundraising recipient, they have chosen to support the Melfort Hospital Community Oncology Program (COPs), which is a program that focuses on keeping cancer treatment local.

Kelly Linnell, head coach of the team and Pink game organizer, told northeastnow she and her team are very honoured to host the game and support a local program.

“We’re very excited that the money is going to stay local,” she said. “This is a program that helps our community be able to do their cancer treatments locally, instead of having to travel to the city. It’s an excellent job to give back to our hospital and our community.”

“It’s going to be a fun evening and we’re just so excited we get to see the funds go directly to the Melfort Hospital. We’re very honoured to be a part of it and the girls are excited to wear their pink jerseys. It should be a fun evening.”

Linnell also mentioned how vital it was to be a part of the game against Carlton, as they learned a lot on how to be successful.

“It was great to be a part of it with Carlton and just experience all the work that went into raising the money and just to see how big of an event it was,” she said. “We’re hoping that despite COVID, we’re still able to have a big event in our community and people can come in. It’s more than just a game, we’re also having our dance centre provide some halftime entertainment.”

“We’ve got a great committee of staff that’s helping with the ideas of how we’re going to do our fundraisers. We’ve talked to Carlton about what were good things and what were bad things. Our Student Activities Association (SAA) is going out and is excited about it, so it’s just important that we get the word out there and that people get excited and donate and raise a substantial amount to give back to the Melfort Hospital.”

People can help by either purchasing one of their Event Shirts, as the team would love for the game to be a sell-out crowd of pink shirts, attending the game on Jan. 27 and purchasing raffle tickets and bidding on silent auction items, which they will begin posting closer to the event, or by becoming a sponsor with a tax-deductible contribution or with a donation for their raffle or silent auction.

Cash donations can be made by using their online payment link and choosing Pink Game and shirts can be purchased by contacting the main office at MUCC or online by using their online payment link and choosing Pink Shirt Fundraiser. More information can be found on their page, both here and here.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8

by Ben Tompkins

Melfort Comets begin fundraising for annual provincial Pink game

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